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Fears were perhaps realised by some over the nature of the new battle system with the release of the new trailer, and a further announcement about an episodic release has caused quite a stir around one of the best stories ever told.

Every FF fan and his dog has been waiting for this game for a very, very, very, very, very, very, very loooooonnnnnngggggggg time. If you are like me you would have had an untold amount of late night beer fueled discussions about your hopes and expectations for any future possible remake.

Ultimately they would boil down to two camps, the traditonalist/purist camp which believes everything should stay exactly the same with updated graphics, and the modernisation camp which in and of it self is so diverse that it could mean anything from including additional content, to reworking systems.

I personally fall somewhere between the two but it doesn’t matter anymore, those late night beer fueled fantasies are now becoming final with the remake, and with each piece of new information we receive, peoples nostalgia will either be attacked or eased.

The job they have is a difficult one, it will be impossible for them to please every fan, and even harder for them to fulfill the expectations of those waiting a decade or so for their dreams to be realised.

Playing with dreams is a bit like playing with fire, someone is going to get burnt.

The new battle system, it may or may not work but until we actually play it, it is going to be impossible to tell, but I have to admit I was disappointed to say the least that we were not getting a new and improved ATB-turn based battle system and instead getting a button-mashing action based system.

But you know I let that slide because well FFVII REMAKE!?!??!!?!

Then I heard the news; FFVII is going to be an episodic release. At first the voices inside my head brought me to my knees and all I could do was hold the side of my head in despair.

After passing out for a while and getting brought to my senses by a strange passer by in nothing but a thong, a few deep breaths passed before my original skepticism abated and I began to rationalise and come to terms with the news.

An episodic release could work in fact it could work really well, if the content of each episode is a million times more than what we are accustomed to with telltale, and the releases are close enough that we do not have to wait years or months between falling through a church roof and leaving Midgar.

Imagine a cringe worthy cliff hanger as the game cuts out as Sephiroth falls to the ground his sword aimed at that special someone, only for the screen to fade to black and the words “CATCH US NEXT TIME… BROUGHT TO YOU BY SHIN-RA INC” flash across our screens – how long would your console last before you threw it out the window in anger and disgust?

The news that each episode will have a different feel and be as big as a game in and of it self helped to alleviate some fears as well, after all if each episode is going to have a different feel, maybe they will release an episode that has a battle system true to the original?

Either way a new trailer and some new announcements later, make no mistake this old beauty has plenty of steam left in her.